Local Government New Zealand President Sam Broughton paid tribute to Susan Freeman-Greene’s leadership after she announced she will be stepping down as chief executive at the end of August 2025
She has been in the job for almost five years.
“Susan’s calm, measured navigation of LGNZ as a member organisation leaves a strong legacy,” says Sam Broughton.
“We’re thankful to Susan for her leadership and work towards advocating, supporting and connecting councils and elected members, particularly the relationships she has built throughout local government and beyond.”
But just a few weeks earlier, Western Bay of Plenty District Council became the latest council to leave the organisation.
The councils in Christchurch City, Auckland, West Coast Regional, Grey, Kaipara and Westland District have left, too, in recent years.
Those councils have opted not to remain members of a representative group for local government throughout New Zealand which provides advocacy and support for local councils.
As a non-partisan collective LGNZ also provides a connection between central and local government, professional development, networking and events, and consultancy.
Policies are set and guided by the national council, made up of members of local government.
A Local Democracy Reporting account of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council decision said:
There were claims LGNZ had become “extremely political”, had swung “far left” and lacked professionalism.
But the vote was close.
Western Bay councillors debated the decision to resign for more than an hour at a meeting on Tuesday.
The decision to end the council’s LGNZ membership passed by majority vote, six to five.
Councillor Tracey Coxhead brought the motion to council because she believed LGNZ needed to “re-evaluate itself” and was “not committed to being under a new government”.
The organisation’s job was to represent local government to central government to obtain the best outcomes and provide professional guidance and upskilling, Coxhead said.
“Its focus is on education and professionalism. I feel that professionalism is lacking from LGNZ.”
LGNZ needed to be non-partisan, she said, but presentations at its 2024 conference were
“… largely, although not entirely, pushing a certain agenda, for example, only one narrative on climate change.
“LGNZ is ignoring the sentiment of a large proportion of the membership.”
Six of LGNZ’s 18 submissions in the past year did not represent her views, Coxhead said.
Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge claimed LGNZ had “swung so far left” it was no longer a fair and open environment where decisions represented local councillors’ beliefs.
She said the council could advocate directly to the government through local MPs.
This was not the first time the council had debated its LGNZ membership.
Murray-Benge’s attempt to have it leave LGNZ in 2022 was voted down. Coxhead, then not a councillor, spoke at that meeting in support of leaving.
Councillor Allan Sole, who had voted to leave in 2022, said at Tuesday’s meeting he was a “staunch supporter” of the organisation but was not satisfied with where it was now.
“I have certainly seen it become extremely political, which I hadn’t seen previously.”
Mayor James Denyer said the council was already “vulnerable to the whims of central government”.
“Divided or on our own outside of LGNZ, we have a much-reduced influence and very little voice.”
The support the organisation gave elected members was vital and included training and conferences as well as free mental health support, Denyer said.
LGNZ also provided advice and information to help councils with submissions to the government on bills, he said.
“The demands of our jobs are significant, and some people have benefited greatly from the [mental health] support.”
The council paid a yearly subscription of $80,905 and $30,819 to attend the LGNZ conference.
Denyer said $16,000 of the conference cost was not spent by the council but by community boards.
The council’s membership ended on 31 March.
The Timaru District Council – in contrast – voted last month to renew its $66,000 a year membership of LGNZ.
The council has been a member every year since the LGNZ’s establishment in 1988, with the exception of 2021-2022 when it became the only council in the country to not renew its membership as a protest that LGNZ had not done enough to advocate for councils concerned about the then Government’s proposed Three Waters reform.
Councillor Allan Booth said he had previously been “fairly negative about the whole lot” but he now felt it “was quite useful and certainly important, for networking, for council to be involved”.
“I support it, too, because of the network it provides, and possibly opportunities for staff to network in the same way,” councillor Stu Piddington said.
Nigel Trainor, the council’s chief executive, clarified the $66,000 was “just the subscription” and that every time “two or three” councillors went to Wellington there were other costs.
Mayor Nigel Bowen guessed the real cost was probably another $50k on top of that.
When Auckland Council voted to leave LGNZ, Mayor Wayne Brown used his casting vote in favour of leaving.
The mayor said he did not see much benefit to being part of LGNZ.
He was reported as saying he and his band once played a gig for an LGNZ conference and he was not impressed with what he saw – claiming members were “completely pissed, all night long” with no benefit to ratepayers.
He viewed leaving as an easy cut, saying it gave the Local Government Minister too much power over the council.
“It makes it really easy for [the minister] to dispense with consultation, by going to a meeting of mayors in Wellington and making a one-hour speech,” he said.
A main theme of councillors’ arguments to stay was a desire not to cut Auckland off, with some urging their colleagues not to turn their backs on the rest of the country.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
“We’re thankful to Susan for her leadership and work towards advocating, supporting and connecting councils and elected members, particularly the relationships she has built throughout local government and beyond.”
But just a few weeks earlier, Western Bay of Plenty District Council became the latest council to leave the organisation.
The councils in Christchurch City, Auckland, West Coast Regional, Grey, Kaipara and Westland District have left, too, in recent years.
Those councils have opted not to remain members of a representative group for local government throughout New Zealand which provides advocacy and support for local councils.
As a non-partisan collective LGNZ also provides a connection between central and local government, professional development, networking and events, and consultancy.
Policies are set and guided by the national council, made up of members of local government.
A Local Democracy Reporting account of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council decision said:
There were claims LGNZ had become “extremely political”, had swung “far left” and lacked professionalism.
But the vote was close.
Western Bay councillors debated the decision to resign for more than an hour at a meeting on Tuesday.
The decision to end the council’s LGNZ membership passed by majority vote, six to five.
Councillor Tracey Coxhead brought the motion to council because she believed LGNZ needed to “re-evaluate itself” and was “not committed to being under a new government”.
The organisation’s job was to represent local government to central government to obtain the best outcomes and provide professional guidance and upskilling, Coxhead said.
“Its focus is on education and professionalism. I feel that professionalism is lacking from LGNZ.”
LGNZ needed to be non-partisan, she said, but presentations at its 2024 conference were
“… largely, although not entirely, pushing a certain agenda, for example, only one narrative on climate change.
“LGNZ is ignoring the sentiment of a large proportion of the membership.”
Six of LGNZ’s 18 submissions in the past year did not represent her views, Coxhead said.
Councillor Margaret Murray-Benge claimed LGNZ had “swung so far left” it was no longer a fair and open environment where decisions represented local councillors’ beliefs.
She said the council could advocate directly to the government through local MPs.
This was not the first time the council had debated its LGNZ membership.
Murray-Benge’s attempt to have it leave LGNZ in 2022 was voted down. Coxhead, then not a councillor, spoke at that meeting in support of leaving.
Councillor Allan Sole, who had voted to leave in 2022, said at Tuesday’s meeting he was a “staunch supporter” of the organisation but was not satisfied with where it was now.
“I have certainly seen it become extremely political, which I hadn’t seen previously.”
Mayor James Denyer said the council was already “vulnerable to the whims of central government”.
“Divided or on our own outside of LGNZ, we have a much-reduced influence and very little voice.”
The support the organisation gave elected members was vital and included training and conferences as well as free mental health support, Denyer said.
LGNZ also provided advice and information to help councils with submissions to the government on bills, he said.
“The demands of our jobs are significant, and some people have benefited greatly from the [mental health] support.”
The council paid a yearly subscription of $80,905 and $30,819 to attend the LGNZ conference.
Denyer said $16,000 of the conference cost was not spent by the council but by community boards.
The council’s membership ended on 31 March.
The Timaru District Council – in contrast – voted last month to renew its $66,000 a year membership of LGNZ.
The council has been a member every year since the LGNZ’s establishment in 1988, with the exception of 2021-2022 when it became the only council in the country to not renew its membership as a protest that LGNZ had not done enough to advocate for councils concerned about the then Government’s proposed Three Waters reform.
Councillor Allan Booth said he had previously been “fairly negative about the whole lot” but he now felt it “was quite useful and certainly important, for networking, for council to be involved”.
“I support it, too, because of the network it provides, and possibly opportunities for staff to network in the same way,” councillor Stu Piddington said.
Nigel Trainor, the council’s chief executive, clarified the $66,000 was “just the subscription” and that every time “two or three” councillors went to Wellington there were other costs.
Mayor Nigel Bowen guessed the real cost was probably another $50k on top of that.
When Auckland Council voted to leave LGNZ, Mayor Wayne Brown used his casting vote in favour of leaving.
The mayor said he did not see much benefit to being part of LGNZ.
He was reported as saying he and his band once played a gig for an LGNZ conference and he was not impressed with what he saw – claiming members were “completely pissed, all night long” with no benefit to ratepayers.
He viewed leaving as an easy cut, saying it gave the Local Government Minister too much power over the council.
“It makes it really easy for [the minister] to dispense with consultation, by going to a meeting of mayors in Wellington and making a one-hour speech,” he said.
A main theme of councillors’ arguments to stay was a desire not to cut Auckland off, with some urging their colleagues not to turn their backs on the rest of the country.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
Not forgotten: LGNZ supporting 3 Waters without consulting its member Councils or taking a vote. I think that took away trust in the organisation. Trust is slowly gained and quickly lost with chickens still coming home to roost. MC
LGNZ became the enemy of the councils they were meant to lobby for when they took the 3 Waters Ardern/Mahuta bribe money to promote it.
...Freeman-Greene was a part of this action but her going will still not get the councils that have left back....the damage done is terminal. Broughton may find he too is out in the cold come election time too.
This centralized state construct (LGNZ) should never have gained traction in the first place and should stand down asap. It goes against regional differences and independence to sort out their own unique issues without ‘big brother’ sticking their nose in and demanding payment. Decentralize should be on every council’s agenda, and they should be following the lead of those who have already taken this step.
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